Algeria National Agency for Management of Microcredit study visit in VBSP

(VBSP) On June 21st 2014, VBSP has a meeting at the Headquarters with senior staffs from the Algeria National Agency for Management of Microcredit (ANGEM) led by Mr. Moukim Temourov - World Bank’s Representative at Algeria. Mr. Nguyen Duc Hai - Deputy General Director of VBSP has hosted the meeting and made the speech.

At the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Duc Hai - VBSP’s Deputy General Director has delivered his welcome speech to ANGEM delegation. He also introduced the effective operation of VBSP with specific characteristics and widespread network nationwide in Vietnam. The Algeria National Agency for Management of Microcredit is the first institution providing microcredit in Algeria. ANGEM was established in 1999 for the purpose of poverty reduction, job creation and social security policy for Algeria people.

The demand for microfinance in Algeria at present is very huge. An overall estimate of the need for microfinance, and business loans in particular, can be based on the statistics on the number of households and the number of very small enterprises in Algeria. The number of households stands at approximately 5 million and the estimated number of officially constituted very small businesses with up to 10 employees stood at 148,725 at the beginning of 2000, accounting for 221,975 officially reported jobs.

The informal sector is large and growing steadily. It employed an estimated 1,249,000 people in 2003, accounting for 17,2 percent of total employment. The informal sector is growing at an average annual rate of 8 percent and is estimated to account for 13 percent of GDP. Furthermore, household’s needs for local financial services are far from being satisfied, as only an estimated 30 percent have bank accounts.

 At the meantime, there are a number of players of different types are involved in providing microfinance services, but the market of small production units and merchants can be deemed to be virtually untapped. The main institution providing microfinance services is Algerie Poste, which has a large branch network, manages 7,1 million postal checking accounts and handles more than a million transactions daily.

The next player in this field is Algerian NGOs. There are about fifteen large NGOs operating in Algeria’s non-profit sector. One of them, Touiza, has acquire acknowledged expertise in this area since 1996 and instituted a financing program for very small enterprises, which includes support for entrepreneurs. The loan portfolio of this organization over ten years has included a total of more than 445 loans, 36,6 percent of which were granted to women. The current outstanding loans come to DZD 39 million.

The following is the National Mutual Farm Credit Bank is a cooperative financial network providing banking services for a grass-roots customer base, primarily in rural areas. It now has 142 branches in rural areas and 147,000 members and more than 230,000 customers, primarily in the farming, forestry, fishing and fish farming sectors.

There are also some small organizations and institutions providing microfinance in Algeria but cannot satisfy the great potential demand for developing microfinance in Algeria.

The study tour visit of ANGEM this time to Vietnam aims to study and enhance knowledge and experience in microfinance in Vietnam. ANGEM is interested in Vietnam’s experience in transitioning from centralized economy to a market-based economy, and wants to learn the effects of the current economic to microcredit / microfinance sector, including the development of new products, monitoring and evaluating the impact of interventions. The government’s policies, regulations related to microfinance sector, institutional establishment are also issues that the delegation concerned.

During the meeting with VBSP, members in delegation all highly evaluated VBSP’s role in Vietnam’s course for poverty reduction, socio- economic development, living standard improvement for the people and asked some questions related to VBSP’s operation. Questions focus on VBSP’s experiences in making balance between social role and financial role in operation, the repayment rate.